Monday, January 26, 2009

On my turntable: Wham! U.K. - Fantastic

One thing that I never take for granted about my "alternative lifestyle" (that of a record collector) is how I can find myself with a song in my head one minute and the next minute I'm digging out the LP for some early morning disco dancing. I was strolling through the kitchen this morning when Wham!'s "A Ray of Sunshine" popped into my head, and voila! She is now rotating on the turntable.

My first exposure to this album was in my brother's car. He was a freshman at Augsburg at the time, working at the college radio station. Wham! U.K. was a new duo with an interesting R&B/funk/electronic mix that sounded pretty fresh at the time. So Jay had the tape in his car and was trying to convince me that Wham! U.K. was good, and I was thinking "yeah they're OK I guess". The next year when I was a college freshman Make it Big! was released, and it was huge. Wham! broke up in '86 after the release of their third album, Music From the Edge of Heaven.